KREMMLING BANS MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Kremmling became the second town in Grand County and one of the few in
the state to ban medical marijuana dispensaries within its borders,
after a unanimous vote of trustees Wednesday night.

"We can discuss it, but nobody can inhale," Mayor Tom Clark joked as
the board of trustees took up the issue.

At an earlier meeting, trustees had instructed Town Manager Ted Soltis
to draft an ordinance banning the dispensaries.

Soltis said he and the town's attorney modeled Kremmling's ordinance
after similar laws in Winter Park and Greeley, the only other towns in
the state he knows to have adopted outright bans of medical marijuana
dispensaries.

Winter Park's ordinance went into effect in February, Soltis
said.

He said Kremmling's legal counsel characterized the ordinance as
"legally defensible" while acknowledging there is "some legal risk
under the current state of the law."

Colorado voters amended the Colorado Constitution in November 2000 to
allow patients to grow, possess and consume marijuana if a licensed
physician advises them that they might benefit medically from
marijuana. They also must register with the state and obtain a medical
marijuana card.

The amendment does not address dispensaries, which have proliferated
across the state this year in the wake of the Obama administration
announcing that it does not intend to enforce federal marijuana laws
in cases of medical marijuana use in states where such use is legal.

"We've got to draw the line somewhere," Trustee Jason Bock said
Wednesday night, a sentiment echoed by other trustees.

Trustees Erik Woog and Isaac Schonlau were not present.

The ordinance, adopted Wednesday, will go into effect in 30 days. It
says the Board of Trustees "finds it essential that the Town enact
ordinances to prevent the secondary effects of medical marijuana
dispensaries, which are deemed detrimental to the public health,
safety and welfare ..."

Increased crime is among the detrimental effects the ordinance
cites.

The ordinance defines dispensaries as "the use of a property or
structure, whether for profit or otherwise, to cultivate, sell,
distribute, transmit, give, dispense, or otherwise engage in the
business of providing medical marijuana in any usable form and in any
manner ..."

Soltis said later that potential penalties include up to one year in
jail and/or fines up to $1,000. Many of those cases would be tried in
Kremmling Municipal Court, he said, though Police Chief Scott Spade
said cases in which a suspect's defense relies on a medical marijuana
card would be referred to Grand County Court.

Even without the ordinance, it would theoretically be illegal to
locate a medical marijuana dispensary in Kremmling under the town's
business license law, which requires businesses to comply with federal
law.

Spade told trustees Wednesday night that medical marijuana
card-holders are not targeted by the ordinance and that they will
still be entitled under state law to possess up to the legal limit.

But, "we can still drag their butts into court?" asked Trustee Grant
Burger III.

Spade said the card would be a defense for possession within legal
limits. And, if the suspect was growing plants, "I'd have to maintain
them" until the case was settled, he said, or the town could face a
lawsuit.

The amendment allows card-holders to grow up to six plants for
personal medical use.

The Colorado Legislature is considering laws that would regulate
medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado. Many towns and counties,
including Grand County, have proposed their own laws and enacted
moratoriums on dispensaries pending legislative action.

"State law is in flux; federal law is still in flux," Soltis told
trustees just prior to their unanimous adoption of the ordinance.

Mayor Clark said officials with the Colorado Municipal League told him
they expect many laws regulating dispensaries to be tested in court.